Right click on desktop

Adding new shortcut.
Right click on desktop does not show any options inder NEW.
The screen just renews

--
Jim S

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:00:02 +0100, Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut.
Right click on desktop does not show any options inder NEW.
The screen just renews

Is this something new in a system that was previously OK?

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 13:22:39 -0000 (UTC), pinnerite wrote:

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:00:02 +0100, Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut.
Right click on desktop does not show any options inder NEW.
The screen just renews

Is this something new in a system that was previously OK?

Yes probably, but it's one of those things I don't do very ofter.
I have done all the windows10 repair stuff.
--
Jim S

Jim S wrote:
On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 13:22:39 -0000 (UTC), pinnerite wrote:

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:00:02 +0100, Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut.
Right click on desktop does not show any options inder NEW.
The screen just renews
Is this something new in a system that was previously OK?

Yes probably, but it's one of those things I don't do very ofter.
I have done all the windows10 repair stuff.

Check your Shell Extensions, see if there is a new one.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

Shell Extensions are an excellent way to destabilize
File Explorer. The code quality of developers really
needs to be better for any items used for that purpose.

Symptoms sometimes, are the right click menu is slow
to paint. Maybe it half paints, and then the remainder
of the items show up.

https://superuser.com/questions/2860...d-disable-them

This article gives you some idea what doing it
manually is like.

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/07/09/re...xt-menu-bloat/

This gives some idea what may help in Windows 10.

https://superuser.com/questions/6298...m-context-menu

"Worked perfectly on Windows 10, without reboot, after
deleting 5 unnecessary other context menu items"

We don't know if that was absolutely essential, or merely
one of the shell extensions was at fault.

Paul

Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut. Right click on desktop does not show any options
inder NEW. The screen just renews

Windows/File Explorer is both the file manager and the desktop manager.
You said there were no entries listed under the New context menu entry
when you right-click on the desktop. When you open File Explorer and
navigate into any folder, and right-click on some empty space in the
right-side list pane, is the New menu empty or have entries?

Nirsoft's Shell Menu View
"ShellMenuNew is a small utility that displays the list of all menu
items in the 'New' submenu of Windows Explorer."

Does that list any entries?

Install any new software lately? Some programs add entries (shell
extensions) to the context menu, and if they screw up then the menus get
screwed up.

Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer
"Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extend the abilities
of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically
installed by the operating system, but there are also many other
applications that install additional shell extension components."

After loading ShellExView, click on the Type column to group together
the different types of shell extensions. Look at those for context menu
extensions. You can right-click on them to disable them (rather than
delete them). Do any of those match against a recently installed
program or an recently updated one?

Try using System Restore to recover to a restore point to whenever the
problem arose. Not sure you know when the problem happened. Some
program installs will create a restore point, so you can look at their
descriptions to see what got recently installed, plus you can look in
the "Apps & features" list in Settings to see the install dates. You
can even sort the installed app list by date (newest to oldest).
Going into the Windows Updates settings will show you dates of when the
various types got installed.

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:05:49 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut. Right click on desktop does not show any options
inder NEW. The screen just renews

Windows/File Explorer is both the file manager and the desktop manager.
You said there were no entries listed under the New context menu entry
when you right-click on the desktop. When you open File Explorer and
navigate into any folder, and right-click on some empty space in the
right-side list pane, is the New menu empty or have entries?

Nirsoft's Shell Menu View
"ShellMenuNew is a small utility that displays the list of all menu
items in the 'New' submenu of Windows Explorer."

Does that list any entries?

Install any new software lately? Some programs add entries (shell
extensions) to the context menu, and if they screw up then the menus get
screwed up.

Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer
"Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extend the abilities
of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically
installed by the operating system, but there are also many other
applications that install additional shell extension components."

After loading ShellExView, click on the Type column to group together
the different types of shell extensions. Look at those for context menu
extensions. You can right-click on them to disable them (rather than
delete them). Do any of those match against a recently installed
program or an recently updated one?

Try using System Restore to recover to a restore point to whenever the
problem arose. Not sure you know when the problem happened. Some
program installs will create a restore point, so you can look at their
descriptions to see what got recently installed, plus you can look in
the "Apps & features" list in Settings to see the install dates. You
can even sort the installed app list by date (newest to oldest).
Going into the Windows Updates settings will show you dates of when the
various types got installed.

As I said I have no idea when this happened.
All I know is when right-clicking the desktop NEW is greyed-out. Clicking
it does nothing and dounle clicking resets the screen.
All the solutions suggested by Paul and yourself just confuse me.
--
Jim S

Jim S wrote:

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:05:49 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut. Right click on desktop does not show any options
inder NEW. The screen just renews

Windows/File Explorer is both the file manager and the desktop manager.
You said there were no entries listed under the New context menu entry
when you right-click on the desktop. When you open File Explorer and
navigate into any folder, and right-click on some empty space in the
right-side list pane, is the New menu empty or have entries?

Nirsoft's Shell Menu View
"ShellMenuNew is a small utility that displays the list of all menu
items in the 'New' submenu of Windows Explorer."

Does that list any entries?

Install any new software lately? Some programs add entries (shell
extensions) to the context menu, and if they screw up then the menus get
screwed up.

Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer
"Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extend the abilities
of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically
installed by the operating system, but there are also many other
applications that install additional shell extension components."

After loading ShellExView, click on the Type column to group together
the different types of shell extensions. Look at those for context menu
extensions. You can right-click on them to disable them (rather than
delete them). Do any of those match against a recently installed
program or an recently updated one?

Try using System Restore to recover to a restore point to whenever the
problem arose. Not sure you know when the problem happened. Some
program installs will create a restore point, so you can look at their
descriptions to see what got recently installed, plus you can look in
the "Apps & features" list in Settings to see the install dates. You
can even sort the installed app list by date (newest to oldest).
Going into the Windows Updates settings will show you dates of when the
various types got installed.

As I said I have no idea when this happened.
All I know is when right-clicking the desktop NEW is greyed-out. Clicking
it does nothing and dounle clicking resets the screen.
All the solutions suggested by Paul and yourself just confuse me.

You can't run a program, like Nirsoft's ShellMenuView, to just see what
it lists? It's no harder than running Notepad. That you posted in a
Win10 newsgroup doesn't specify the bitwidth of the OS, and you didn't
say. Make sure to get a copy of ShellMenuView that matches the bitwidth
of your OS.

You can't go into System Restore, if enabled, to see when the restore
points were created?

You don't create regularly scheduled image backups? Manually instigated
backups means they don't get done, or are way too far apart. If you
have backups, create a new one of the current state of Windows (so you
can revert to that state although the New context menu doesn't work),
and restore to a prior backup image. If that doesn't work, try one that
is older.

You can't look in Apps & Features to sort by date to see when the last
program/app got installed? And the same for the Windows updates?

How about running the System File Checker ("sfc.exe /scannow") in an
elevated command shell?

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:27:11 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Jim S wrote:

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:05:49 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Jim S wrote:

Adding new shortcut. Right click on desktop does not show any options
inder NEW. The screen just renews

Windows/File Explorer is both the file manager and the desktop manager.
You said there were no entries listed under the New context menu entry
when you right-click on the desktop. When you open File Explorer and
navigate into any folder, and right-click on some empty space in the
right-side list pane, is the New menu empty or have entries?

Nirsoft's Shell Menu View
"ShellMenuNew is a small utility that displays the list of all menu
items in the 'New' submenu of Windows Explorer."

Does that list any entries?

Install any new software lately? Some programs add entries (shell
extensions) to the context menu, and if they screw up then the menus get
screwed up.

Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer
"Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extend the abilities
of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically
installed by the operating system, but there are also many other
applications that install additional shell extension components."

After loading ShellExView, click on the Type column to group together
the different types of shell extensions. Look at those for context menu
extensions. You can right-click on them to disable them (rather than
delete them). Do any of those match against a recently installed
program or an recently updated one?

Try using System Restore to recover to a restore point to whenever the
problem arose. Not sure you know when the problem happened. Some
program installs will create a restore point, so you can look at their
descriptions to see what got recently installed, plus you can look in
the "Apps & features" list in Settings to see the install dates. You
can even sort the installed app list by date (newest to oldest).
Going into the Windows Updates settings will show you dates of when the
various types got installed.

As I said I have no idea when this happened.
All I know is when right-clicking the desktop NEW is greyed-out. Clicking
it does nothing and dounle clicking resets the screen.
All the solutions suggested by Paul and yourself just confuse me.

You can't run a program, like Nirsoft's ShellMenuView, to just see what
it lists? It's no harder than running Notepad. That you posted in a
Win10 newsgroup doesn't specify the bitwidth of the OS, and you didn't
say. Make sure to get a copy of ShellMenuView that matches the bitwidth
of your OS.

Did that and everything appeared fine

You can't go into System Restore, if enabled, to see when the restore
points were created?

I could, but I don't know whether this has been happening for a day, momnth
or year.

You don't create regularly scheduled image backups? Manually instigated
backups means they don't get done, or are way too far apart. If you
have backups, create a new one of the current state of Windows (so you
can revert to that state although the New context menu doesn't work),
and restore to a prior backup image. If that doesn't work, try one that
is older.

I do, but I thought the answer would be simpler than something so major

You can't look in Apps & Features to sort by date to see when the last
program/app got installed? And the same for the Windows updates?

How about running the System File Checker ("sfc.exe /scannow") in an
elevated command shell?

Done that and it found nothing as did my full windows check.
--
Jim S

Jim S wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

You can't run a program, like Nirsoft's ShellMenuView, to just see what
it lists? It's no harder than running Notepad. That you posted in a
Win10 newsgroup doesn't specify the bitwidth of the OS, and you didn't
say. Make sure to get a copy of ShellMenuView that matches the bitwidth
of your OS.

Did that and everything appeared fine

If the New list is populated in Nirsoft's ShellMenuView program but the
submenu is empty in the context menu, seems the new items have been
defined but something is screwing up the display of the context menu
(and its New cascading menu aka submenu).

While I mentioned ShellMenuView, Nirsoft also their *ShellMenuNew* tool
that lists what should appear under the New submenu in the context menu.
ShellMenuNew shows what the shell extension for New will list.

While ShellMenuView shows what entries are listed in the 1st level of
the context menu (depends on the type of object on which you right-click
to see the context menu), and while ShellMenuNew digs into the New
submenu to show what entries were defined for that submenu, neither
shows you who handles the submenus in the context menu. When you load
Windows, it scans the registry for the context menu's 1st level entries.
It also scans the registry looking for ShellNew keys under a program
entry. When found, those ShellNew keys will add an entry under the New
submenu. See:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/remov...w-context-menu

That mentions using a 3rd party tool to alter the list of entries (and
action for each) under the New cascading menu. Not all programs have an
option to load their handler for the filetype of the selected file or
for a folder, especially if they don't work on files or folders. Such
tools let you add your own entries to the New cascading menu. Possibly
you used something like that. Or, maybe a program you configured or was
configured by default on install tried to add an entry to the New
submenu but ****ed up the list somehow, like it deleted all existing
ShellNew keys, so now Windows has none to find when it starts to put
into the New submenu.

The submenus you see in the context menu are handled by a shell
extension: a handler that is defined to manage the entries and actions
in a cascading menu. For example, if you tell WinZip, PeaZip, or 7-Zip
to cascade its context menu entries, their submenu (to cascade their
entries as a submenu) is managed by that program's shell extension. New
is a case where Windows is the manager for the sub (cascading) menu. If
you use ShellExView, the New Menu Handler cascading menu is defined to
use some method within the shell32.dll library. I configured 7-zip to
use a cascading menu, so I see 7-zip as a 1st level entry in the context
menu but ShellExView shows the 7-Zip Shell Extension uses the 7-zip.dll
library as the handler for the cascading menu as to what it lists and
what action to use for each entry in that list.

Since New's cascading or submenu is defined using a shell extension, use
ShellExView, click on the Extension Name header to be sure the list is
sorted by that value, scroll down to New Menu Handler, and double-click
on it. Take a screenshot of the properties window and upload to online
file storage to give a URL to it here. Below is a screenshot of what
the properties are for my setup's shell extension for the New submenu:

https://imgur.com/a/4IxVarm
(click on image to enlarge)

You can't go into System Restore, if enabled, to see when the restore
points were created?

I could, but I don't know whether this has been happening for a day, momnth
or year.

I haven't used System Restore for a long time. I rely on image backups
that are much better to restore the drives to a prior state instead of
hoping just the system file restores go back to a working state.

As I recall, when an installer creates a restore point, it adds a
comment why it was created. In fact, every restore point has a comment,
but some are just going be the default comment from a scheduled or
triggered restore point creation. When you create a manually instigated
restore point, you get to add a comment as to why you created it. So do
installers. If it was a scheduled or triggered restore point creation,
it'll say something like "automatic" in the comment/description. See:

https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content...6/09/wsr_9.png

You don't create regularly scheduled image backups? Manually instigated
backups means they don't get done, or are way too far apart. If you
have backups, create a new one of the current state of Windows (so you
can revert to that state although the New context menu doesn't work),
and restore to a prior backup image. If that doesn't work, try one that
is older.

I do, but I thought the answer would be simpler than something so major

It's possible the fix is simple, like the suggestion to run SFC;
however, sometimes there isn't an easy fix or no one that responds knows
of one, so you have to resort to restoring from an image backup. You
said SFC didn't help (did it report no errors?).

I followed the instructions on how to get the new Sandbox feature
available in the 1903 upgrade installed into my Home edition of Windows
10 x64. It went okay, but Microsoft changed something that is throwing
all such hacking users for a loop: the sandbox refuses to load saying
the client GUI could not connect to the server (the VM). When I looked
around about a week ago, no one had a hack to get the sandbox feature
working again in 1903 Home edition (it worked when the articles were
written at whatever builds were available back then for 1903). I tried
removing all the changes for adding the sandbox but I could still
discover remnants, and figuring out how to remove an installed package
was not well described. So, restoring from an image backup was an easy
solution. Luckily before I installed the sandbox package, I had saved
an incremental image backup and used it to restore back to a state
before the sandbox package got installed.

Since the context menu's behavior is altered by shell extensions is why
I suggested using Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer. Sort on the Type
column, so all extension types are grouped together. The ones I would
look at are those listed as context handlers and also the property
handlers (the latter are those that add tabs to the Properties dialog).